Oh my….

It appears that my naive self stumbled upon something with the NAIS/NONAIS issue in “The scary stuff” blog (ya think?!). Me, the one who ‘hides her head in the barn’ and tries to hide from all things vulgar and wrong with the world. I am trusting to a fault, always believing most everyone has the best of intentions.

Heck, this is just a hobby farm. Bunnies and llamas and everything right in the world. I thought NAIS was just a little obnoxious pain in the neck…..a thorn I could remove.

Okay, I’m awake now. I was awake after the first ten comments. By Comment 30, I was feeling pretty humbled by my ignorance, and after that….I felt really, really sad.

I received an education I didn’t know I needed. I’ve learned more than I ever wanted to know, but now that the door is open, I see that I must walk through and remain aware and diligent in my beliefs, to my family and to our farm.

I truly hope that the word can continue to spread to those who are not aware of NAIS, and especially to the non-farming world, because it is most obviously, very important for them to understand as well.

Comment 73 (of the Scary Stuff blog) was beautifully written, and if you cruise through a lot of the others, please take a moment to read that one.

All the comments are appreciated because of the light they have brought to an issue that we all need to educate ourselves about – an issue that needs our attention.

This is the world our children are growing up in – what do we want it to be like for them?

4 Responses

Some of the comments were bone chilling…I too was completely in the dark about NAIS.I guess I thought it would pertain to large farms producing animals for food.I have since done some more research and am finding things that are truly disturbing.I only want to enjoy my little slice of heaven!

Dear Teri, My husband and I have been part time and more recently full time farmers, and have been raising sheep for over 20 years. In previous lives we also studied long and hard enough to receive Ph.D.s in scientific fields. I hope this gives me some cred.

I’ve not read Linda Faillace’s book, but had sheep when their sheep were taken. The book gives one side of the story, hers, and that’s why I didn’t buy it. I heard an interview on public radio’s “Living on Earth” which confirmed that I didn’t want to read the book.

When the controversy there was talk that the Faillaces had been warned, before they imported the sheep, that it was possible some of the sheep might have been exposed to a TSE. I think that’s why they had to submit sheep heads to USDA for testing. If you dig hard enough on USDA’s web site, you will find a note that at least one of the confiscated sheep had some sort of encephalopathy.

I personally know two farms that purchased rams from the Faillaces. They had used those rams in their breeding programs. They did surrender those rams, and USDA paid them more than the purchase price, which I think had been $5K.

There was a special Congressional appropriation to buy out the Faillaces, of a couple or a few million dollars. They rejected the offer as not being sufficient. The appropriation was temporary; the dollars are no longer available.

We had sheep when foot and mouth disease was raging in Britain. We had no idea if it would arrive on our shores, and what would happen if it did. We truly feared for our farm. On the internet I read of people coming through airports and their baggage not being inspected and their feet not being sanitized.

Britain made widespread sweeps of the landscape, taking and burning all sorts of livestock. Had there been an effective ID program in place then, much of that destruction wouldn’t have happened.

About sheep and goats. Every person who owns sheep or goats in the United States is supposed to be enrolled in the Mandatory Scrapie Eradication Program. Any time I sell a sheep for breeding stock, or show my sheep at a fair, or send animals older than 18 months of age to market, they are supposed to be wearing their mandatory tag. Our premises is registered with USDA.

As for NAIS, I do think USDA would have been a lot better off had it started with a pilot program. I also have some concern about their ability to protect farmers’ privacy.

Many other countries have ID programs in place or in progress. We could learn from them.

If anyone wants to read about the consequences of the lack of an identification program, go google Exotic Newcastle Disease California and find out how much it cost the US to eradicate that disease, including people’s pet birds.

Had there been an ID program, it’s very likely that many private individuals wouldn’t have lost their birds, and the US wouldn’t have spent somewhere around $100 million.

I’d have a few things about MTP’s comments. There are several things that do not fit.

To say there was talk that the Faillaces were warned is not convincing of anything. The possibility that some sheep might have been exposed is not the same thing as were exposed.

Speculating on the reason the sheeps head were submitted is not the same thing as knowing why.

Challenging the reader to dig hard enough at the USDA’s website for for a note on at least one sheep is reaching. If this note exists offer the source and at least the contact, a little more is needed so we can read the note.

“Some sort of encephalopathy” without elaborating or proof is insufficient to convince me.

The rams which the USDA supposedly bought for $5K do not offer proof of anything. I don’t know that the USDA would have confiscated the rams instead. They could have if the money was rejected. What were the results?
The USDA could pay me $10 for a horse and not mean anything to anyone.

The temporary appropriations, the dollars no longer available, a few million
dollars, that could all be hush money for all I know. I have to believe it in the first place without evidence.

I don’t know that they
rejected it for being insufficient. With so many clouds over everything MTP has written thus far I
can’t believe anything.

If there was such an appropriation for
one sheep farmer I’m interested in what the Faillace’s say about it.

To give one sheep
farmer a few million I think it would have caused someone to look into it, a watchdog
somewhere would have been interested in exposing this I think. There is just nothing to go on when making that claim.

Offering some reference to the stories “on the internet” about the potential spread of FMD is pointless because FMD didn’t spread, not by people coming from airports. Just repeating, it didn’t spread. If it’s going to spread it will likely come from Plum Island research lab.

There is just so little credibility to this whole
post by MTP.

When British ag officials engaged in the widescale kill zone sweeps and the random taking and burning of all sorts of livestock farmers committed suicide. Anyone can read those heart-rending stories as well as the remorse expressed from ag officials who have since expressed that their actions were unjustified.

“Had there been an effective ID program in place then,
much of that destruction wouldn’t have happened.” That is of course speculation. You have to believe the first, that Britain did a good thing, which they didn’t, to believe this. There is no evidence that the NAIS would have prevented any spread. None whatsoever.

The Mandatory Scrapie Eradication Program is working fine. NAIS is redundant. Either the Scrapie Program is a failure or NAIS for sheep is superior. NAIS is not a substitute for the Scrapie program.

I am surprised that MTP and spouse with Ph.D.’s in scientific fields do not find the NAIS purely superfluous.

The Pilot Program for the NAIS was the CAFO dairies in Wisconsin. In my opinion there
are Pilot Programs everywhere and they are opposed overall by the general public. I am curious what MTP means by
“pilot program.”

What we are learning from other countries which have ID programs in place or in progress is that participants are miserable with it. It’s expensive, it’s unwanted and at most opportunities would like for the US to scrap it.

Using California’s Exotice Newcastle Disease eradicatin program as support for the NAIS is ridiculous. It takes a leap of faith to swallow that as evidence that the NAIS is the perfect
solution, a magic pill. The NAIS is snake oil and everything MTP has written is speculative, hypotheticals, like the words of a peddler for the NAIS.

Had there been an ID program during California’s outbreak it is very
unlikely to have prevented the spread. The NAIS simply traces, doesn’t eradicate. And if you are going to use this as an example I have to say that the spread is linked to illegal game cocks.

The $100 million eradication expenditure as proof that the NAIS would have saved anything is ridiculous.

Illegal game cocks operate illegally. What the
heck was NAIS going to do?

They claim it is a disease tracking program but in reality is a business plan designed to benefit corporate agriculture and factory farming so they can sell their product on the global level but they way it works will put those who own livestock on a private basis, including whoever raised or owned that pig to to be under more surveillance than illegals, drug dealers or child molesters.

The USDA claimed a reason for NAIS was to track and prevent mad cow disease. Yet when Creekstone Beef wanted to test every cow they process for BSE, the USDA says they cannot!!! Creekstone had to take the USDA to court to sue for the right to test for BSE! And what does my reporting to the USDA when I take my horse off my property have to do with big ag selling beef to Japan?

They promised it would be voluntary but the latest memo to vets is to sign up people regardless of what they think and protesters get a notation and special number different from those signing up willingly.

This whole deal smacks of communism/facism!

There are already disease protocols in place and they work. NAIS tracking stops at time of slaughter which is when many food safety issues occur by mishandling the meat.

NAIS can best be explained like this…… I have a disease but I force YOU to take and pay for the meds, then I travel the world declaring I am disease free. That kind of lunacy benefits neither one of us.

I am not against big ag making money, but the rest of us are forced to be part of the scheme and get none of the profits, just the onerous responsibilites of making it seem like big ag has safe beef. Which is so ironic because American beef is among the safest in the world.

Note: The Times Union is not responsible for posts and comments written by non-staff members.

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